South Carolina football has hired Marquel Blackwell as running backs coach with SEC experience.

Blackwell has been a running backs coach at three different programs in four years. Most recently, Blackwell was at Texas A&M, where he oversaw a rushing attack that averaged 136.2 yards per game.

Blackwell was the running backs coach at Ole Miss in 2022, where he helped lead one of the nation's best rushing offenses. The Rebels averaged 256.5 yards per game, good for third in the country and best in the SEC.

Before joining Ole Miss, Blackwell spent three years with Houston. He was the Cougars' co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019, then spent the following two seasons as the program's running backs coach. Blackwell also has experience as running backs coach with Western Kentucky in 2012, Toledo in 2016-17 and West Virginia in 2018.

Blackwell joins wide receivers coach James Coley, who was also hired from Texas A&M earlier this month.

Blackwell replaces Monterio Hardesty, who departed the program after the Gamecocks fielded the worst run game in the SEC in 2023. South Carolina was the only team in the conference to record fewer than 1,100 rushing yards. Across three seasons under Hardesty, the Gamecocks averaged 113 rushing yards per game.

LEMBO MOVES ON: South Carolina football special teams coordinator Pete Lembo hired as coach of Buffalo

The program has also seen its top running backs leave the program over the last several years. Marshawn Lloyd left for Southern California after 2022 and Mario Anderson transferred to Memphis ahead of 2024. The Gamecocks added Arkansas running back Raheim Sanders this offseason.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: South Carolina football hires Marquel Blackwell as running backs coach